


Champion's New Beau

by KatMotif



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, Minor Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, Social Media, Tabloids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28317000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatMotif/pseuds/KatMotif
Summary: After the Vytal Festival, Jaune gets mistaken to be Pyrrha's boyfriend by the tabloids. But maybe this is the push they need to finally make things official?(For the JNPR Fan Club Secret Santa Exchange!)
Relationships: Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29
Collections: JNPR Secret Santa 2020





	Champion's New Beau

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Theavalanche65](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theavalanche65/gifts).



The Vytal Festival champion was Pyrrha Nikos. After a hard fought battle she’d added another win to her many accomplishments. It was almost bittersweet; while happy she’d won the tournament for her team, she knew that the pedestal the world had put her on would only rise higher with her win. It would be even more difficult to make new friends, to establish any new relationships. But that just meant her relationships with the friends she already had, especially her teammates, and  _ especially _ her partner Jaune, were that much more important to her. But she had no idea how her win, and the momentary increase in attention, would come to change that relationship in particular.

It all started at the tournament’s after party. Pyrrha was being congratulated left and right by both familiar faces and complete strangers, and despite her exhaustion (she’d barely had time to rest after the award ceremony before she’d been summoned) she smiled and treated everyone with her signature warm smile and bubbly personality. Her friends were about and celebrating in their own rights, but Jaune had stayed nearby, which Pyrrha was grateful for. Not only was her crush on him blossoming into something more, but it was actually seemingly reciprocated, especially in the weeks leading up to and during the tournament. 

At some point, she’d started staying closer to Jaune, wrapping her arm around his; her exhaustion and nerves leading her to cling to the one thing that made her feel most secure at that moment. Jaune, seeming to understand, allowed it, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She didn’t register the flashing lights of cameras witnessing them. When one of the journalists had asked her who Jaune was, she introduced him as her team leader and upsold his leadership skills and kind personality, something that made the tall blonde blush a bit. Little did she know, did they know, how this would be spun.

A week later, when all the press had died down and things had more or less begun to return to normal around Vale, it was Jaune who spotted something in the magazine rack at the convenience store (Nora had sent him and Ren off to go get some snacks for the dorm room). He’d normally ignored things like tabloids but tabloids didn’t usually have his face smacked onto them. His arm was around Pyrrha’s shoulders and the two were smiling at each other; then he noticed the headline in bold, yellow font.  **Champion’s New Beau: Who is He?**

“Oh. Oh fuck.” Jaune muttered, grabbing the magazine and skimming through it. He internally screamed as the first thing he noticed about the article about them was that they’d  _ spelled his fucking name wrong; John Ark. _ He would’ve ripped it up right then, but they were regulars in this store and he didn’t want to upset the nice woman who owned it. The article at least got him being the team’s leader right, and had been faithful to what Pyrrha had said (even if he thought she’d exaggerated his leadership qualities a bit) but was wildly presumptuous about their relationship otherwise, even flat out lying (she’d never grabbed his ass at any point, he would remember if she did).

He didn’t know what felt worse; the fact that the tabloids assumed he was Pyrrha’s boyfriend, or the fact that he wasn’t, and wanted to be. It’d taken him some time to realize how he’d been feeling about Pyrrha; he cursed his density, and his own thinking of her as being someone way out of his league. He did want to date Pyrrha but he was holding himself back when it came to making the next move; what if their dating made things awkward? What if it wouldn’t work because of their being huntsmen? What if...he lost her?

“Jaune, you okay?” Ren called from the end of the aisle, arms full of chip bags and some fruit salad for himself.   
“Uh...yeah.” Jaune said, shaking his head and closing the magazine and placing it back on the rack. He pushed it away, the idea that people thought Pyrrha was his girlfriend. There’s no way it would actually happen, after all...right?

“So, who is he?” Pyrrha’s mother had asked in the phone call she’d just ended.   
“Jaune? He’s the captain of my team and a good friend.” Pyrrha had answered.

“Oh honey,” her mother had said, in that tone mothers had when they were sure their kid was hiding something from him, “You can tell me that you have a boyfriend. I’m really happy for you, sweetie. He seems very sweet, at least based off of what I read.”

“Mother, you really should know better than to believe tabloids,” She’d argued, but her mother had stuck to her guns on the issue, before having to end the call to start dinner. Pyrrha now sat on her bed and sighed, holding her head in her hands.

She should’ve known this was going to happen, should’ve known she was going to drag her team into the spotlight with her at some point. She was afraid of it, dreading what they’d say about them, the rumors and lies that would be spread about the dearest friends she had ever had. And now, they were spreading the (admittedly not unwelcome, just untrue) rumor that Jaune was her boyfriend.

Pyrrha hoped it wasn’t going to get too out of hand.

Then she found someone had cut out a picture of the two of them from a tabloid magazine and taped it on her locker, along with a sticky note, clearly Cardin Winchester’s handwriting, “HMU when u want a real man”. Pyrrha nearly gagged at the thought and ripped it off, her face red with embarrassment. Whenever she and Jaune were walking in close proximity through Beacon’s hallways, she could hear giggles and snickers and scoffing of jealous types. Rumors were nothing new to her but the fact that it was such a personal rumor, a rumor about her and a close friend, that was new.

The worst part, though, was some of the things she’d overhear them say about Jaune. The “he’s not good enough for her”, “she’s settling”, “she could do way better than that awkward loser”, kind of statements that made her skin crawl. Jaune had, first of all, shown a great amount of improvement since they’d started training together, and second of all, the people saying these things knew nothing about how he was; how sweet and kind he was, how he was always there to help his friends when they needed him. The way his smile could shine brighter than the sun, and how strong he really was, the untapped potential he had.

A part of her wanted to prove them wrong, a part of her wanted them all to see what she saw in Jaune. The parts of him that slowly made Pyrrha fall for him. Even if it was just to pretend for a bit until the rumors died down, she may as well go for it, right?

“I need to talk to him.” Pyrrha muttered to herself.

Pyrrha waited till the next time she was alone with Jaune, during their nightly sparring. Ren and Nora were studying in the dorms (though she wasn’t sure how much studying they were actually doing, giving their recently emboldened flirting as of late) so they would definitely be left alone. After a couple of minutes of stretching, and a sparring session that lasted a lot longer than they had in the beginning, the two of them stopped for a water and snack break. An awkward silence settled in between the two. Ultimately, though, it was Jaune who broke the silence.

“So there’s...huh...rumors. About us.” Jaune stammered awkwardly, not making eye contact with Pyrrha. Pyrrha sighed.   
“I...I know.” she stammered. Her heart pounded and she swallowed hard.  _ Relax, it’s not like you’re asking him out for real.  _

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for people to misinterpret things between us.” She started, looking down at the ground. “If you’re not comfortable with it, I can call my publicist to clear things up.”

Another pause, and Pyrrha was sure Jaune was pondering how best to let her down, telling her he was, indeed, uncomfortable with being seen as her boyfriend. She braced herself for being rejected, to be told she was too good for her, too high up on a pedestal yet again…

“Would you be mad...if I said I wasn’t mad about it?” Jaune suggested, a little nervousness in his voice. Pyrrha looked over at Jaune, eyes widened.   
“Wait, really?” Pyrrha asked, smiling a little. She didn’t expect this, expecting more of the usual rejection.

“I think it’s...kind of funny, actually. They think you would go for a guy like me? Like really?” Jaune said, still not looking at Pyrrha. She was glad for it, as her face faltered at his words. 

“Why do you think that?” She asked.

“Don’t get me wrong, I know you hate...when people think you’re too good for them. That’s not what it is. It’s not that you’re too good for me, it’s that I’m...not good enough for you. I hear what they’ve been saying.” Jaune muttered, looking further away.

“...I would.” 

“What?” Jaune finally looked up at her, his own eyes wider. She nodded at him, reaching over and touching his hand.

“I would. I…” Pyrrha stammered, squeezing his hand in hers. She sighed. “Gods, Jaune, I’ve been throwing hints at you for months now! The dance, the way I’ve been spending more time with you outside of us training lately...I really like you!” she added with a chuckle. Jaune blinked before he too started chuckling.

“I’m sorry. I can be pretty...dense. You know that. If I upset you at all, I didn’t mean it.” Jaune replied, his hand turning in hers and their fingers threading together. His hand was warm and held hers firmly. She didn’t think her heart could beat any faster.

“So…” Jaune murmured, “You...actually do like me?”

“Yes.” Pyrrha whispered. “...do you like me?”

“Yeah. I do.” Jaune breathed, reaching his freehand over and cupping Pyrrha’s cheek. “I like you a  _ lot _ .”

“How much...is a lot?” Pyrrha asked, leaning into the warmth of Jaune’s touch. Jaune leaned in, brushing his lips against hers. It was an inexperienced kiss, the touch gentle, almost too gentle, and Pyrrha leaned into it until her lips were fully against Jaune’s. They broke apart after a moment just for Pyrrha to lean in again, deepening the kiss this time, placing both her hands on the back of Jaune’s head, her fingers gingerly running through his blonde hair. Jaune hummed into the kiss, both of his hands on Pyrrha’s waist.

“So,” Jaune whispered, his lips still partially on Pyrrha’s, “Am I your boyfriend for real, now?” He barely registered Pyrrha pulling out her scroll and opening the camera app.

“Officially.” she purred before pulling him in for another kiss. The camera snapped.

Pyrrha’s latest Dustagram photo went viral within seconds; a picture of her kissing Jaune hitting a million views within minutes. The comments from their friends were buried underneath thousands of comments of various rates of approval, but none of that mattered to either of them. As they walked down the halls of their school, hand in hand, the only thing they could register was each other. She didn’t hear anyone’s back talking or naysaying because she was  _ his _ , and he was  _ hers _ , and she couldn’t be any happier.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked the fic Ava (and everyone else reading ofc).


End file.
